Wal-Mart plan faces questions

January 27, 2006|By Amanda Marrazzo, Special to the Tribune

ELGIN — A mixed reaction to Wal-Mart's building proposal this week has put the company's expansion in Elgin on hold.

"This deal concerns me," council member Thomas Sandor said Wednesday. "This is one of Elgin's last prime pieces of property on Randall Road. When I look north to Algonquin or south to South Elgin and Geneva, I see upscale, high-end retail, and Elgin gets discount stores?"

Plans for the 73-acre site at Randall and Bowes Roads include a 196,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Super Center with a grocery, a 138,500-square-foot Sam's Club and gas station, and nine retail outlots.

The City Council is expected to revisit the proposal Feb. 22.

Sandor said Elgin is building high-end homes and giving the new residents discount stores. "Where are the Nordstroms?" he said.

Mayor Ed Schock praised Wal-Mart for its plans and agreeing to pay for the $4.5 million in improvements along Randall required by the Kane County Department of Transportation.

"No one else has stepped up," Schock said. "Elgin is diverse and its residents are diverse and we all need a place to shop. And I take issue with the statement that we have not gone out for high-end retail."

Schock said the development would produce about $1.5 million in annual sales tax revenue and $225,000 in property taxes.

Council member Dave Kaptain said that Elgin has enough fast-food chains and discount stores and that residents would continue to shop in nearby communities with upscale choices.

John Bisio, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said he could not understand why council members were "looking down their noses at Wal-Mart."

Concerns about the Wal-Mart at Randall and Royal Boulevard, near the proposed site, were also expressed. Bisio said the company would probably end its lease at the site and work to find a new tenant. Other concerns included the development taking business from the Meijer store across the street.